Thursday, 22 October 2015

Gbagada General Hospital Drowning In Filth and Faeces

A number of patients and visitors at Gbagada General hospital have called attention to the current filthy state of Gbagada General Hospital.

According to reports, patients have been defaecating in public spots in the hospital due to the poor conditions of the toilets and hospital management’s failure to provide toilets.

A caregiver said, “I have been here for more than three days now. Each time I have to defecate, I go to the bush to do that. Initially, I was reluctant to do it, but I don’t have any other option. Sometimes, I stepped on the faeces of other people and the smell in that place is horrible. But what I do is to drop my own, and cover it up with tissue paper before leaving.”
Another visitor, Gbemisola Areogun, said she tried to moderate her feeding to avoid having any reason to ease herself.

Areogun, whose daughter-in-law had been in the labour room for two days, said, “I try to moderate the way I eat here so as to avoid being pressed and wanting to go to the toilet. There is no toilet here and I have to be with my son’s wife. I can’t imagine using the bush.”

When a news correspondent from Punch Newspaper, asked a nurse for a place to defecate, he was directed to the bush.

The nurse said, “You are a man now, and you should not be ashamed to use the bush. Just try to cover yourself up with leaves and stay some distance away. We used to have a public toilet, but because people were always soiling the place, it was shut.”

A woman at the hospital, who asked not to be named, explained that lack of water sometime affected the hospital as new born babies who were supposed to be cleaned up were not.

“The lack of water sometimes delays the time babies are cleaned up. There was a day that babies could not bath throughout that day because there was no water. So, it is not just a problem with toilet facilities, water is also included,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Ajibola Ishola, said the hospital’s toilet was under repairs and visitors were allowed access to other toilets in the hospital.

Just wondering how long fixing the toilet will take....weeks or months?

Photo Credit- Punch

Update- No fewer than eight mobile toilets (Four for males, four for females) have been brought to
the Gbagada General Hospital to serve visitors to the hospital after the Tuesday report by Punch Newspaper.

The visitors’ toilet had been reopened and a lady had been asked to man its entrance. The bush also had been cleared of faeces and the toilet in the surgical ward cleaned.